Character Worksheet Templates

How many of you use character worksheets when you’re starting a new story? Do you find them useful? Do you reference them often, or do you fill them out and then never look at them again?

I use a basic template for my characters, and I do find them useful. The level of depth is different for main and minor characters, but I find that I reference them more than once while I’m writing my stories. In case you’re curious, here’s my templates:

Main Characters Name: Age: Birthday: Physical Description: Personality Description: Hometown: Type of Neighborhood/Description of Home:   Father’s Name: Father’s Background and Occupation: Mother’s Name: Mother’s Background and Occupation: Siblings: Position in Family (oldest, youngest, etc): Family Relationships: Friends: Enemies: Influential Person or Event: Grade in School: Grades: Attitude Toward School: Favorite School Subject: Least Favorite School Subject: Favorite Sports: Favorite Foods: Hobbies: Dress Style: Religion: Attitude Toward Religion: Relationship with Boys: Relationship with Girls: Leader or Follower: Ambitions: Strongest Positive Personality Trait: Strongest Negative Personality Trait: Temperament: Consideration for Others: How Other People See Him/Her: Opinion of Self: Other Traits: Notes:

Minor Characters Name: Age: Physical Description: Friends: Enemies: Siblings: Education Level and Grades: Occupation: Hobbies: Personality Description: Dominant Characteristics/Traits: Physical Tag (a mannerism or nervous habit): Voice and Vocal Tag (voice pitch, frequently used word or phrase): How Other People See Him/Her: Opinion of Self: Other Traits: Notes:

FYI: If you like these templates and want to use them, you can download a copy here.

All these details are good to know, especially if you have to set the story aside for whatever reason and you don’t pick it back up for several months or years. With these worksheets in place, you won’t need to reinvent all these details.

That said, I don’t think it’s enough. It’s like reading someone’s resume, actually. You’d never hire someone just by reading a resume, would you? Nope. You’d bring him in to interview first, so you can put a personality with the information on the page. And then you can decide whether or not to hire him.

The same thing is true in writing. I don’t think you can just start writing a character’s story with only facts in a worksheet to go by. You need to get to know him first, and there are many ways to do this.

I actually used to get to know my characters while writing the first draft, but it often presented too many surprises. I had to go back often to revise or rewrite before the first draft was even finished, because it was clear the characters needed to go in that direction. That drove me crazy.

Now, I do journaling from my main character’s perspective. I have her ‘tell’ me her story in her own words, as though she’s writing in her diary. This allows her personality to shine through, as well as her voice, mannerisms, quirks, and beliefs. It’s incredibly helpful.

For minor characters, I don’t do this kind of journaling. However, I can often glean information about them from my main character’s ramblings, because she often shares her opinion on various people and their actions. So, instead, I will focus more on the worksheet for them, and make a few additional notes here and there. It’s come in handy many times, because it’s often hard to keep track of who has what color hair or eyes, or what that person’s sibling is named.

So, while I find them useful, I also believe that they are nowhere near enough. Much more is needed in order to bring your characters to life. This is how I do it. What’s your method?